Illustration showing the
typical Prussian Landwehr uniform. Note the cap band which was
also in the provincial colour. Although this illustration shows
the troops wearing the provincial colour on the cuffs, this was
not always the case. Illustration courtesy Haet Industrie.

Introduction

Reserve - After the defeat of
1806 and the subsequent restrictions on the size of the Prussian
army, efforts were made to increase the pool of trained manpower
for the army by discharging trained soldiers from the ranks and
replacing them with raw recruits. This system of creating a
trained cadre of reservists or "Kruemper" enabled
Prussia to quickly raise the strength of its army after
Napoleon's disastrous Russian Campaign of 1812. The first
Prussian reserve battalions were formed in early 1813. By Summer
1813, 12 Reserve regiments were formed. During the army's
reorganisation of March 1815, these 12 Reserve regiments were
incorporated into the line as Regiments 13-24. The various
Freikorps which fought during the Wars of Liberation of 1813-14
were incorporated into the line as Regiments 25-27. The 28th and
29th Regiments were formed from the infantry of the former French
ally of Berg. The Russo-German legion was also taken into the
line as Regiments 30 & 31.

Landwehr - The Prussian Landwehr
(militia) was hurriedly raised in 1813 in an effort to bring all
available manpower to bear against the French occupation. By
Summer 1813, 120,000 men had been recruited into the Landwehr -
consisting of almost half the strength of the Prussian army.
Prussian commanders were initially skeptical about the value of
the Landwehr, but what the troops lacked for in equipment, they
made up for in spirit. By the end of 1813, battle hardened and
equipped with captured French weapons, the Landwehr was
considered the equal of the line regiments. During the 100 days'
campaign, each Prussian infantry brigade consisted of 2 line and
1 Landwehr regiment.

Organisation

Reserve - The
Reserve regiments were organised along the same lines as the
regular line infantry. Each regiment consisted
of 3 battalions. Each battalion of 4 companies.
Each battalion had a full strength of around 800
officers and men.

Landwehr - A
Landwehr brigade consisted of 4 battalions. Each
battalion contained 4 companies. Total
battalion strength was around 600-800 officers and men.

Uniforms

Reserve - Prussia was not a rich
country to begin with and its defeat in 1806 resulted in massive
indemnity payments to the French. This combined with the rapid
pace of mobilisation in 1813 meant that there were insufficient
uniforms for the Reserve regiments. Most wore either the
provisional grey uniform (fig.1) or a variety of British-supplied
uniforms (fig. 2). There was little standardisation even within
the same battalion and a mix of all available uniforms (supplied
and captured) were used. During the reorganisation of March 1815,
when the Reserve regiments were incorporated into the line, an
attempt was made to supply them with proper Prussian uniforms.
However, the swift return of Napoleon and the opening of the 100
days' campaign meant that not all units could not be equipped
with standard Prussian equipment. As a result, although some of
the officers and NCOs had already been equipped with the standard
Prussian line infantry uniform, many units went into battle
wearing the provisional grey or British-supplied uniforms, or
other mixtures of foreign supplied or captured items.

Fig 1 - Showing
an example of the provisional grey Prussian reserve uniform. This
illustration shows 2 members of the 7th Reserve Regiment (1813)
or 19th Inf Regiment (1815). The figure on the left wears a straw
shako with waterproof cover. The right figure wears the grey
"Schirmmuetze". Illustration from Knoetel.

Fig 2 - This
illustration shows the various types of British-supplied uniforms
worn by each of the 3 battalions of the 9th Reserve Regiment in
1813. From L-R: Officer, Musketeer of the 1st battalion (dark
blue jacket and pants), Musketeer of the 2nd battalion (dark blue
jacket and pants) and Fusilier of the 3rd (Fusilier) battalion
(British rifle green uniform). Illustrations by Knoetel. Figs 1 & 2 courtesy of Uniformology.

Landwehr - The
basic Landwehr uniform was either a black or dark blue Litewka
coat with grey or white pants. The collar was in the provincial
colour with each battalion within a brigade having a different
shoulder strap colour (white, red, yellow and light blue).
Provincial colours were as follows:

Province

Collar
Colour

Buttons

East Prussia

poppy red

white

Kurmark and Neumark

poppy red

yellow

West Prussia

black

white

Pomerania

white

yellow

Silesia

yellow

white

Westphalia

green

white

Elbe District

light blue

yellow

Rhineland

madder red

yellow

Acknowledgement and
Sources:

I wish to thank Peter
Hofschr÷er for going through the above text. Any mistakes, of
course, remain my own. As the above is only a brief introduction,
the reader is directed to the following additional sources for
more detail: